A Heap of a Helping

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no Julia Child. Or Alton Brown. Or Nigella Lawson (although my husband wishes I was). I am, however, not a total loss in the kitchen and I must say I turn out a decent meal every now and again.

So of course I volunteered to help cook for the Young Men/Young Women fundraiser. I enjoy cooking and I think that camp is an excellent opportunity for the young people of our ward to escape the ills of society and associate with good friends for a short time. If they needed to raise money so they could go, I was more than happy to lend any help I possibly could. That is, until I got the recipe.

Taco Joes

Ingredients:
1lb hamburger
1/2 small onion
1/2 cup salsa
1 can condensed tomato soup

Directions: Dice onion. Brown hamburger in medium pan. Add onion. Saute until for one minute. Add salsa and tomato soup. Simmer for 3 minutes. Serve on a bun and top with sour cream.

If you would like, I invite you to try this for tomorrow night's dinner. My husband, who even loved Washakie Cafeteria food (he worked there a semester in college) didn't even like it. I considered altering the recipe to just include tomato sauce and taco seasoning. That was a great idea until I realized that all three women cooking had received the same recipe and the same box with family size cans of condensed tomato soup. Someone would be sure to notice that I refused to go down with the ship. I resigned myself to cooking the Taco Joes in all their original glory.


So here I was, showing up with a 16-quart bright red stockpot of the stuff to the fundraiser dinner, ready for a gym-full of my friends to partake. I tried to deny my hand in it. I didn't want anybody to know I had cooked this. It was in vain. The giant stockpot didn't lie. Neither did the untouched dinners that graced so many of the plates. The results were unanimous, "Um... it was uh...fine, but probably not something I would make for my family". Next time someone needs help, I'm signing up for cleanup committee.